by Pam Withers
I used to play with him while growing up. Me and the bear played. He was way stronger. Sometimes he pushed me and I went flying. But he never hurt me or attacked me. I’d tap him and run, and he’d chase. I’d wrestle with him. He’d grab me and throw me around. We didn’t really cuddle. He liked to go by the fireplace.
The cub stayed in our backyard. He wasn’t fenced or tied up or anything. He could come and go as he pleased. I followed if he went on a walk. He’d go to the creek and play and chase bugs, pretty much did whatever bears do. He’d make normal bear sounds: mmmm, rrrr, umhhh. He’d do his growl.
When the cub was old enough and off the bottle, he left every time the other bears went fishing. But he’d come back to Grandpa’s every summer. Grandpa raised him till he was big enough to return to the mountains. The cub was two or three when we let him loose.
Organizations that work against bear poaching include World Animal Protection (worldanimalpro tection.org), the Humane Society (hsi.org), Animals Asia Foundation (animalsasia.org), Justice for BC Grizzlies (justiceforbcgrizzlies.com), and Pacific Wild (pacificwild.org).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
MY MAIN CONSULTANT on this book was Rob Brooks, a Vancouver-based sales and marketing professional who owns and operates Altair UAV (altairuav.com). He was more than patient in helping me develop plot scenes, in explaining technical aspects, and in reading my first drafts, even contributing his own writing in places. I also had advice from droner Brian McLellan of Mayne Island, BC.
Steve Hodgson, BC Parks Area Supervisor for Bella Coola Valley, confirmed that Bent Ear, Lady Diver, Y-Bear, and the Rowdy Twins are actual bears in the Great Bear Rainforest.
Mayne Island veterinarian Elisabeth Jahren “vetted” all sections connected with animal care. Married to a fellow vet, with kids who all but grew up in vet clinics, she says she can relate to Ray and his parents.
To ensure that Mr. Kim’s dialogue was authentic, I ran portions of the manuscript past Ann Y.K. Choi (annykchoi.com), a Toronto-based author and educator originally from South Korea. She read Mr. Kim’s dialogue aloud to her family, which prompted some corrections and discussion, then translated his words into Korean and had a Korean Canadian friend translate them back to English. How overwhelmingly grateful I am for her above-and-beyond feedback!
It was in Doug Peacock’s Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness that I read about a bear blowing and popping bubbles in a mud hole.
In Great Bear Wild: Dispatches from a Northern Rainforest by Ian McAllister, I came across the phrase “ursine daycare” (cubs waiting in trees for their moms to finish catching salmon or collecting berries).
The line “Skinned, a bear looks eerily human,” comes from Kevin Van Tighem in Bears Without Fear.
The reference to bear gallbladders being sold in velvetlined boxes comes from Ben Kavoussi in a March 24, 2011, article at sciencebasedmedicine.org.
Special hugs to Deb Rowe, who accompanied me to Bella Coola.
And finally, thanks to my teen editor, Vansh Bali.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR Pam Withers has written numerous bestselling outdoor-adventure novels for teens. She is also a popular presenter in schools, libraries, and at writers’ and educators’ conferences. Pam has worked as a journalist, magazine editor, book editor, and associate publisher. She discovered whitewater kayaking in college and pursued slalom kayak racing for many years, and has also spent time as a whitewater kayak instructor, whitewater raft guide, and teen summer-camp coordinator. Pam continues to enjoy time in the outdoors when not writing or indulging in her latest passion, table tennis. She divides her time between Vancouver and the Gulf Islands, British Columbia.